A young woman told the Supreme Court that she was forced to produce child pornography of herself by a blackmailer who claimed that he had hacked her phone.

While she told the court that she did not believe there were nude images on her phone, she claimed that a friend — who now stands accused of the crime — cautioned her that the release of such images could damage her career aspirations.

The defendant, from St George’s, has denied a string of offences including extortion, making child pornography, accessing child pornography and distributing child pornography.

Neither he nor the claimants in the case can be identified for legal reasons.

As the trial began yesterday, the first witness told the court that she had met the defendant through their shared interest in music, and by 2015 she viewed him as a brother.

At the time, she said, the defendant was about 22 years old and she was under the age of 16.

She told the court that in late March or early April 2015, she received a message from a Facebook account that carried the name of someone with whom she was in school.

The witness said that soon after the conversation started, the tone shifted, with the messenger claiming that they were a hacker who had got into her phone and found naked pictures of her.

The purported hacker added that he would distribute the nude images unless the witness did what she was told.

She said that she was scared by the message and reached out to both her best friend and the defendant for advice.

The witness said that while her friend told her to ignore the message, the defendant told her that if the hacker did release nude images of her, it would threaten her ability to pursue a career in music.

“I didn’t play sports a lot,” she said. “I didn’t love school all that much and I didn’t have a plethora of friends. Music was basically all I did.”

She said she responded to the blackmailer, who instructed her to message them on Skype before ordering her to perform sexual acts on camera.

The witness said that the blackmailer reached out to her again about a week later and made similar demands, which she again acceded to, with further demands coming in the following weeks.

“I felt that I had no other choice,” she said. “This hacker had already compiled a lot of naked, embarrassing photos and videos of me. The stakes were getting a lot higher.”

She told the court she spoke to the defendant about the demands, but his responses were “flippant”.

After two months, she said the blackmailer demanded that she make a video with her friend, which the two did.

While the blackmailer initially said the video would be the last, he later demanded additional videos with the witness and a male.

The witness said she continued to go along with the demands for a period and continued to speak with the defendant, who told her that he knew someone who could hack her alleged hacker and the blackmailer mentioned that he was aware of attempts to thwart him.

“I thought it was over. Then I was getting messaged again,” she said. “By that point I was tired. I was over it. So I stopped answering.”

The witness said the blackmailer sent further angry messages threatening to send out the videos and photographs.

She said the images and videos of her were subsequently released and spread “everywhere”.

The witness added that once the materials were released, the defendant ceased all contact with her.

“I never heard from him again,” she said.

The trial continues.

• It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on stories regarding criminal court cases. This is to prevent any statements being published that may jeopardise the outcome of that case